SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

The LWP::ConnCache class is the standard connection cache manager for LWP::UserAgent.

The following basic methods are provided:

$cache = LWP::ConnCache->new( %options )

This method constructs a new LWP::ConnCache object. The only option currently accepted is 'total_capacity'. If specified it initalize the total_capacity option. It defaults to the value 1.

$cache->total_capacity( [$num_connections] )

Get/sets the number of connection that will be cached. Connections will start to be dropped when this limit is reached. If set to 0, then all connections are immediately dropped. If set to undef, then there is no limit.

$cache->capacity($type, [$num_connections] )

Get/set a limit for the number of connections of the specifed type that can be cached. The $type will typically be a short string like "http" or "ftp".

$cache->drop( [$checker, [$reason]] )

Drop connections by some criteria. The $checker argument is a subroutine that is called for each connection. If the routine returns a TRUE value then the connection is dropped. The routine is called with ($conn, $type, $key, $deposit_time) as arguments.

Shortcuts: If the $checker argument is absent (or undef) all cached connections are dropped. If the $checker is a number then all connections untouched that the given number of seconds or more are dropped. If $checker is a string then all connections of the given type are dropped.

The $reason argument is passed on to the dropped() method.

$cache->prune

Calling this method will drop all connections that are dead. This is tested by calling the ping() method on the connections. If the ping() method exists and returns a FALSE value, then the connection is dropped.

$cache->get_types

This returns all the 'type' fields used for the currently cached connections.

$cache->get_connections( [$type] )

This returns all connection objects of the specified type. If no type is specified then all connections are returned. In scalar context the number of cached connections of the specified type is returned.

The following methods are called by low-level protocol modules to try to save away connections and to get them back.

$cache->deposit($type, $key, $conn)

This method adds a new connection to the cache. As a result other already cached connections might be dropped. Multiple connections with the same $type/$key might added.

$conn = $cache->withdraw($type, $key)

This method tries to fetch back a connection that was previously deposited. If no cached connection with the specified $type/$key is found, then undef is returned. There is not guarantee that a deposited connection can be withdrawn, as the cache manger is free to drop connections at any time.

The following methods are called internally. Subclasses might want to override them.

$conn->enforce_limits([$type])

This method is called with after a new connection is added (deposited) in the cache or capacity limits are adjusted. The default implementation drops connections until the specified capacity limits are not exceeded.

$conn->dropping($conn_record, $reason)

This method is called when a connection is dropped. The record belonging to the dropped connection is passed as the first argument and a string describing the reason for the drop is passed as the second argument. The default implementation makes some noise if the $LWP::ConnCache::DEBUG variable is set and nothing more.

SUBCLASSING

For specialized cache policy it makes sense to subclass LWP::ConnCache and perhaps override the deposit(), enforce_limits() and dropping() methods.

The object itself is a hash. Keys prefixed with cc_ are reserved for the base class.